Doreen and Joan (fellow Fabricators) came over on Tuesday for an experimental dye session.Joan:
Joan tried out dye painting on a dry, soda ash treated, coarse canvas using a dye concentrate with sodium alginate (Kelgin) thickener. Her drawing of the Angkorwat ruins is wonderful.
Doreen:
Doreen painted dye on wet, soda ash treated cotton. Her soft colours blended beautifully. I was certain they would wash away when rinsed they were so subtle. I was shocked when almost no dye came out in the rinse or wash. She used 1 tbsp dye powder per 1/2 c. water, according to Betty Howe’s tried and true dye painting recipe.
Me:
I did a three way dye in 28 small plastic bags, a la Sophie in Australia. I was inspired by the gradation dye seen on Sophie’s flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/artstitches/1503393471/ . Her blog has dyeing information and photos http://essellesbabble.blogspot.com/
Fabric: The 28 chunks of fabric came from 7 cotton napkins and a table cloth from my great aunt’s cedar chest that I inherited in the 80’s. I’m not sure if you call the woven lilies of the valley damask or jacquard. But the pattern catches the light in a most wonderful way on each of the dyed pieces.
Dye Solution: 1 tsp dye powder/cup of water with no soda ash at this point. This is 6 times less dye powder than Doreen used! I used 3 tsp. total dye solution per bag (6 measures of ½ tsp.)
Dye Powder Used: ProChem.
Bottom left corner, Aqua #702,
Top left corner Plum #8153
Far right, ~60% Lemon Yellow #114:~ 40% Lime Green #730)
Method: One row at a time, I mixed the dye proportions according to Sophie’s photo, in little cups before adding to the bag. The fabric was soaked in soda ash before putting in the bag. I poured in more soda ash hoping for some pale colours. A little scrunching to minimize white patches finished the bagging procedure.
Labelling: Each bag had a number. I should have numbered each fabric chunk accordingly with permanent marker when it was dry to make sorting easier. Instead I attached fabric numbers with a safety pin.
The Results: Very interesting. Lots to observe and learn. Violet has red in it. The complement is green so I did get some lovely neutrals. The plum overpowered the aqua and green. Next time I will use ½ tsp of any colours that are strong or dark. The aqua has a weak voice. I should double the proportions of the shy dyes. The dyed fabric looks more like turquoise than the aqua on the dye chart. The plum is very similar to the chart colour.
Method: One row at a time, I mixed the dye proportions according to Sophie’s photo, in little cups before adding to the bag. The fabric was soaked in soda ash before putting in the bag. I poured in more soda ash hoping for some pale colours. A little scrunching to minimize white patches finished the bagging procedure.
Labelling: Each bag had a number. I should have numbered each fabric chunk accordingly with permanent marker when it was dry to make sorting easier. Instead I attached fabric numbers with a safety pin.
The Results: Very interesting. Lots to observe and learn. Violet has red in it. The complement is green so I did get some lovely neutrals. The plum overpowered the aqua and green. Next time I will use ½ tsp of any colours that are strong or dark. The aqua has a weak voice. I should double the proportions of the shy dyes. The dyed fabric looks more like turquoise than the aqua on the dye chart. The plum is very similar to the chart colour.
No comments:
Post a Comment